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Hospital Expansion Means Jobs For East San Jose

SAN JOSE (KCBS) – Crews broke ground Thursday on a second tower at Regional Medical Center, a project expected to bring hundreds of medical jobs to an area with the highest unemployment rate in the city.

The hospital will need to hire 1,500 staff, including 500 doctors, once construction is complete.

The $300 million expansion also calls for a new intensive care unit, emergency room and two office buildings. That’s a tremendous opportunity for construction companies over the next three years, said District 5 Councilman Xavier Campos.

“During the construction period this project will bring at least 2,000 jobs in the trades,” he said.

KCBS’ Matt Bigler Reports:

Once it’s completed in 2014, the four-story tower will add 81 private rooms to one of the largest hospitals in Santa Clara County, said CEO Mike Johnson.

Johnson said the company that owns Regional, Hospital Corporation of America, saw a bright future in East San Jose.

“Projections on the demographics will be that this area continues to grow,” he said.

Johnson said the new rooms would be equipped with flat screen TVs, and with laptops so that staff could access a patient’s electronic medical records during a consultation and update them in real time.